- Germany: Police seize humanoid robot that alleged groped teen girl, and phones of young men who had it
Source: CBS News
“German police have seized a humanoid robot after it allegedly touched a 16-year-old girl in an indecent manner and made sexually suggestive gestures toward her. Investigators were trying to determine Wednesday whether the robot’s actions were deliberately controlled by two young men who apparently livestreamed the incident in the western city of Cologne on social media. … Videos shared online appear to show the teenage girl standing with two friends, aged 17 and 18, when a red-and-gold robot in athletic wear, about 4 feet tall, approaches her from behind. According to police, and as the videos appear to show, the robot touches the 16-year-old’s buttocks and repeatedly makes thrusting movements toward her. The owner of the robot, a 16-year-old male, and his 19-year-old companion are said to have recorded and livestreamed the encounter themselves, while commenting on it live on social media.” (10/14/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/germany-robot-teen-girl-sexual-harassment-groping-cologne/
- BLS: US inflation rose to 3.7 percent in September
Source: The Hill
“Inflation rose slightly in September after holding steady the month prior, new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed Wednesday. The consumer price index (CPI) increased 0.6 percent last month and was up 3.7 percent relative to September 2025. That marked an increase from August, when annual inflation sat at 3.4 percent. The popular inflation metric was expected to rise by 0.5 percent in September and increase slightly to 3.6 percent year over year, the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland’s ‘Nowcast’ projected on Tuesday. Gas prices, which rose 9.1 percent in September, accounted for more than half of the monthly increase in inflation, according to the BLS.” (10/14/26)
https://thehill.com/business/6146675-bls-september-cpi-data-inflation/
- Doctors: Pope Leo is eating and recovering after cancer surgery
Source: Associated Press
“Pope Leo XIV was eating regularly Wednesday and began walking and doing respiratory exercises, and his tests are normal following surgery to remove a cancerous mass from his lung, the Vatican said. Leo’s two doctors, Dr. Luigi Carbone and thoracic surgeon Dr. Stefano Margaritora, provided a medical update on Wednesday. Initial blood tests and a chest x-ray confirmed a normal recovery, they said. … Tuesday’s surgery showed the 71-year-old pope has the most common type of lung cancer, known as lung adenocarcinoma. Experts said further tests are needed to know if the disease has spread and if more treatment is needed, but those results weren’t available on Wednesday.” (10/14/26)
https://apnews.com/article/vatican-pope-leo-surgery-lung-cancer-08a4aca4e5a6002a1cb9a4ca1ba372cc
- IEA: Diesel squeeze set to last well into 2027 as Iran war disrupts supply
Source: CNBC
“Constraints on the diesel market will extend well into next year, the International Energy Agency warned on Wednesday. In its October Oil Market Report, the IEA said supply would remain tight into the latter half of 2027. A counter-seasonal tightening in gas [and] oil markets in the third quarter, combined with ‘much heavier-than-normal inventory declines’ in the preceding three months, had ‘deprived global gasoil markets of crucial stock cover ahead of the peak winter demand season,’ the IEA said. Last month saw global diesel exports drop by 700,000 barrels a day year-on-year, according to IEA data. A 1.3 million barrels per day loss from Russia and the Middle East was ‘only partly offset by higher supply from other sources,’ the agency said.” (10/14/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/14/diesel-deal-oil-price-iea-report.html
- Nancy Mace’s former fiancé, two others charged with sex crimes she detailed in a House speech
Source: SFGate
“U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace’s former fiancé and two of his business associates were charged with sex crimes and voyeurism on Wednesday over an episode the South Carolina congresswoman described in detail during a speech last year on the House floor about how crimes against women are not investigated thoroughly. John Douglas Osborne committed sex acts on a 23-year-old incapacitated and intoxicated woman while Mace’s ex-fiancé Patrick Bryant and Eric Bernard Bowman watched, according to sworn statements by agents from the State Law Enforcement Division, which brought the charges. The men talked about who would assault the woman beforehand, took photos and recorded the assault, which was also seen on a security system feed at the home in Sullivan’s Island, an affluent suburb of Charleston, state agents said.” (10/14/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/ex-fiance-of-us-rep-nancy-mace-and-2-others-22476848.php
- Germany: Ukrainian soldier goes on trial over sabotage of Nord Stream gas pipelines
Source: The Guardian
“A Ukrainian soldier has gone on trial in Hamburg accused of taking part in one of the most brazen acts of sabotage in postwar European history – the 2022 attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Germany. Serhii Kuznetsov, a special forces officer from the Ukrainian military, is accused by prosecutors of being an accomplice to war crimes by attacking civilian infrastructure, causing an explosion, damaging property and disrupting public services. … He is alleged to have prepared and carried out the detonation of at least four incendiary devices of up to 27kg in weight at a depth of about 80 metres under the Baltic Sea, close to the Danish island of Bornholm.” (10/14/26)
- Netflix to lay off 1,000 staff in steepest cuts since 2022
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Netflix has said it will cut 1,000 jobs globally as the streaming giant faces competition from rivals. The cuts – the steepest since 2022 – will mainly affect its human resources, legal, product and technology teams and equates to around 6% of its total workforce. Last month, Netflix ‘s co-chief executive, Ted Sarandos, told the Bloomberg Screentime summit that the company was ‘not growing as fast as I want us to’. The streaming industry is going through a period of consolidation following Paramount’s $110bn (£83.6bn) merger with Warner Bros, the owner of HBO, while free platforms such as YouTube and TikTok continue to attract viewers. In an email to staff, Sarandos and co-chief executive Greg Peters said Netflix would ‘continue to invest aggressively in high-impact areas to improve our service and further drive growth and innovation’.” (10/14/26)
- UK: Island fossil identified as new dinosaur species
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“A new species of dinosaur (a long-clawed predator the size of a large tiger) has been identified from a fossil found on the Isle of Wight more than 100 years ago. The dinosaur, named Invictibellatrix amberina, is described in a new paper in the journal Royal Society Open Science and belongs to a group of agile, two-legged carnivores called megaraptorans. Megaraptorans were closely related to tyrannosaurs including Tyrannosaurus rex but had slender heads and attacked prey with their large arms and giant curved claws instead of their jaws. Dr Cassius Morrison of University College London (UCL) said it was ‘a real mystery’ why the fossil – a chunk of the back of a skull – had been overlooked in the Natural History Museum.” (10/14/26)
- FL: State employees kill prisoner who killed cellmate to get state employees to kill him
Source: United Press International
“Florida has [killed] a death row inmate who admitted to murdering his cellmate in hopes of being sentenced to death and killed by the state. James Robertson, 63, was [killed] Tuesday by lethal injection at Florida State Prison in Raiford, located about 45 miles southwest of Jacksonville. He was pronounced dead at 12:32 p.m. EDT, the Florida Department of Corrections said in a statement. Robertson was the 17th death row inmate to by killed by Florida this year as it nears its record of 19 [killings] set in 2025. He was also the 31st person to be [killed with premeditation by state employees in prisons] nationwide this year.” (10/14/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/10/14/James-Robertson-execution/2211791962052/
- DC: Anti-war protesters repeatedly derail Hegseth’s remarks at Army event
Source: Fox News
“Protesters repeatedly interrupted War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s headline appearance at the Army’s biggest annual conference on Wednesday, calling him ‘a war criminal’ and ‘a coward’ in protest of the Iran war. At least five times in the first half hour of a panel, foul-mouthed anti-war protesters shouted at Hegseth, calling him a ‘fucking Nazi’ among other insults. Hegseth responded with chuckles and sarcastic comments, at first — but his reactions became increasingly short and irritated as he slammed the ‘semi-coordinated’ attack as one-by-one protesters emerged among the crowd in Washington, DC. ‘You’re not a warrior you’re a coward!’ one demonstrator shouted at Hegseth. ‘Children in Gaza are starving! He is a war criminal!’ ‘She thinks highly of me,’ the Pentagon chief quipped after one outburst, which led to brief applause from the crowd.” (10/14/26)
- Bar Complaint: Katie Zacharia May Have Committed A ‘Crime’ By Claiming She’s A Lawyer
Source: Forbes
“An ethics watchdog filed a complaint with the California State Bar Association on Wednesday seeking an investigation into White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia’s claims that she is a lawyer …. The Campaign for Accountability nonprofit said that Zacharia has repeatedly described herself as a lawyer, but reports have found she is not licensed to practice law in California or any other state. The complaint notes that if Zacharia has ‘held herself out to the public as entitled to practice law without a license to do so,’ California law treats the conduct ‘as a crime.’ … Zacharia told reporters shortly after the briefing she passed the bar when she moved to China. Foreign nationals are not permitted to take the bar or practice law in China.” (10/14/260
- India: Regime jails “cockroach” leaders over protests against alleged voter roll manipulation
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“Two leaders of India’s youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) were remanded in custody for five days on Wednesday, as police ratcheted up efforts to clamp down on anti-election commission protests. CJP activists and opposition parties have defied a security crackdown to demand the resignation of India’s chief election commissioner, accusing the poll body of manipulating voter rolls to benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party. The commission, which oversees voting in the world’s most populous nation, has denied any wrongdoing. Delhi Police said CJP leaders Ashutosh Ranka, 30, and Saurav Das, 27, were taken into custody for their ‘alleged repeated attempts to disturb public peace and violate the law’. At the end of the five-day remand period, they could have their detention extended, be granted bail or be released.” (10/14/260
- Omar investigated in DC, Minnesota over inflating net worth, immigration fraud
Source: New York Post
“Rep. Ilhan Omar is the target of at least two federal investigations related to possible immigration fraud and inflation of her net worth by tens of millions of dollars in House disclosure forms, according to sources familiar with the probes and an administration official. DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro confirmed Tuesday on Fox News’ ‘America Reports’ that ‘there are several investigations going on’ related to the Minnesota Democrat, adding that potential civil or criminal immigration violations as well as Omar’s claim of being worth up to $30 million were also under scrutiny. Sources familiar with the cases disclosed that the Minnesota US Attorney’s Office was leading the probe into alleged immigration fraud, possibly involving false statements about Omar’s birth date, while Pirro’s office in DC was taking on the inquiry into the finances of Omar and her husband, Tim Mynett.” (10/14/26)
- US regime delays release of IRS data showing impact of GOP tax cuts [sic]
Source: Politico
“The Trump administration is delaying the release of detailed data showing how Republicans’ 2025 tax cuts affected millions of Americans’ taxes, even as it tries to sell voters on the law ahead of the midterm elections. The numbers document which tax breaks were claimed by people in different income brackets, as well as information like how much they paid in taxes. The IRS typically releases the data in the wake of each filing season, but this year’s rollout is more anticipated because it’s expected to provide the first detailed look at how taxpayers are taking advantage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, including its new deductions for overtime wages and tipped income.” [editor’s note: There are no “tax cuts.” If spending is going up, taxes are going up. Borrowing is just taxation with deferred payment (and interest) – TLK] (10/14/26)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/10/14/administration-delays-irs-data-gop-tax-cuts-01116807
- World’s oldest shipwreck found off coast of Turkey
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“The world’s oldest shipwreck has been discovered off the coast of Turkey, archaeologists say. They have dated it to between 4,400 and 4,700 years old, which is the Early Bronze Age, and is around the same time that the Great Pyramid was being built. The ship’s wooden structure has not survived, but the ceramic storage pots it was carrying were lying on the sea floor and, remarkably, some still contain traces of what they held inside. The archaeologists who found the ship say it was about 10m in length and was a trade vessel carrying cargo across the Mediterranean Sea. ‘The shipwreck is a time capsule at the bottom of the sea’, said Prof Hakan Öniz, from Akdeniz University in Turkey, who led the Mediterranean Archaeology Association expedition.” (10/14/26)
- CA: Newsom backs measure to make future wealth taxes more difficult
Source: SFGate
“Gov. Gavin Newsom just got behind a ballot initiative that, if passed, would act as a kill switch for Proposition 40, also known as the billionaire wealth tax. The governor’s endorsement comes as the November election is weeks away and the billionaire tax continues to splinter the Democratic Party. Newsom endorsed Proposition 42, a ballot measure bankrolled by ultrawealthy donors such as billionaire and Google co-founder Sergey Brin, on Friday, writing in a statement that it will protect ‘blue-collar unions’ and other workers’ savings from new state taxes. ‘We all agree that Californians deserve to have their retirement and life savings protected from new state taxes so those savings are there when they need them,’ Newsom said in his statement provided by the Prop. 42 campaign. The ballot measure would block new taxes on assets like stocks and other financial property while also banning retroactive taxes, like the proposed billionaire tax.” (10/13/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/newsom-opposes-billionaire-tax-22473800.php
- Congo: Confirmed Ebola cases exceed 9,000 as containment efforts falter
Source: ABC News
“Confirmed cases in Congo’s Ebola outbreak have surpassed 9,000, with more than 4,300 deaths, as health authorities struggle to contain an outbreak spreading across seven provinces, according to government figures released Tuesday. The Health Ministry reported 9,066 confirmed cases and 4,381 deaths, with the death toll approaching half the number of confirmed cases. … The outbreak has created new hot spots as it spreads to more communities, with 65 health zones across seven provinces now affected.” (10/13/26)
- Annual Fundraiser: Momentum, If You’ll Help Maintain It
HUGE THANKS to subscribing contributor MB and supporters JM and RW! They weighed in yesterday with a whopping $470, bringing our annual fundraiser total (as of 5am) to $755.50!
Caveat: I’m awaiting final confirmation from the donor on $100 which may require a refund due to error, but either way a REALLY great day for the fundraiser and we’re either just past or quickly approaching the 25% mark toward our goal of $5,503 (once we’ve raised $2,751.50, supporter GL will “match funds” for the other half)!
In other words, we need to raise somewhere around $2,000 more … and once we’ve hit our goal, you won’t hear from me about money at all for the rest of the year, or very much until NEXT October. So …
PLEASE SUPPORT THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT’S DAILY NEWSPAPER!
… and have a great day!
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily - Ukraine: Russian strikes leave 600,000 without power, Zelenskyy says
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“At least 600,000 people across Ukraine are now without electricity after deadly overnight Russian missile and drone strikes, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said. He said ‘critical’ energy infrastructure had been hit in Kyiv and the capital region and also in the north-eastern city of Kharkiv – despite a claim by US President Donald Trump on Sunday that an ‘energy ceasefire’ was in place between Russia and Ukraine. In Kyiv, at least three people were killed and 21 injured, Ukraine’s state emergencies service DSNS said. Russia’s defence ministry said its ‘massive’ strikes overnight had targeted communications and energy facilities in the Kyiv and Kharkiv regions used by Ukraine’s military.” (10/14/26)
- Federal judge issues longer-term decision blocking Trump’s White House media ban
Source: NBC News
“A federal judge issued an order late Tuesday blocking the Trump administration from banning CNN, Politico and MS NOW from the White House complex while the organizations’ lawsuit over access proceeds. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly of Washington, D.C., issued the preliminary injunction in the wake of a hearing Thursday at which the administration contended it imposed the ban in part because of national security concerns; media organizations said it was because of ‘viewpoint discrimination.’ Kelly sided with the news outlets, noting that Trump used national security as a reason for the ban after their press passes had already been revoked and ruling that it also likely violated reporters’ freedom of speech and due process rights.” (10/14/26)
- America’s Fraught Path Back to Sea
Source: Law & Liberty
by Ralph L DeFalco III“Since the end of the fifteenth century, seafaring explorers have searched for a westward route around the North American continent from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. The Northwest Passage—and its promise of regular commercial ocean traffic that could ship the wealth of nations—was not crossed until the beginning of the twentieth century. Today, because of climate change, the often ice-choked passage some 500 miles north of the Arctic Circle is increasingly accessible. The opening of northern sea routes and the emerging reality of a future transpolar route will, however, create new challenges.” (10/14/26)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/americas-fraught-path-back-to-sea/
- Europe’s intrinsic strengths in innovation
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“When it comes to investment and growth in artificial intelligence, American firms are undisputed world leaders. But in overall innovation across the global economy, the United States is edged out by two much smaller nations. In the recently published Global Innovation Index 2026, the 1-2-3 ranking of Switzerland, Sweden, and the U.S. remains unchanged from that of the preceding three years. (Switzerland has occupied the No. 1 spot since 2011, with Sweden and the U.S. occasionally trading places, and with South Korea and Singapore completing the top five in recent years.) Counter to recent pessimistic assessments of the continent’s innovation and growth potential, European nations occupy 14 of the top 25 spots in this index. This positioning points to perhaps unheralded strengths in Europe’s slower but steadier path, when compared with the high-valuation, high-competition, AI-fueled trajectories of the U.S. and China.” (10/13/26)
- The implications of designer babies
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Madsen Pirie“Sequencing the first genome cost billions. Now it costs less than a weekend in Paris. IVF went from miracle to mainstream in a generation. Pioneers pay, then prices plummet. The real threat to fairness is the ban, not the bill. Prohibit it in Britain and only those who can fly to Singapore will benefit. Prohibition creates precisely the privilege it pretends to prevent. … Better babies will mean a more worthwhile world. Since we can’t stop it, we might as well embrace it.” (10/14/26)
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/the-implications-of-designer-babies
- Nobel Peace Prize has become a fig leaf for left-wing activism
Source: Fox News
by Daniel Schatz“Alfred Nobel intended the peace prize for those who had done the most to advance peace among nations. Instead, it is increasingly handed out to the international activist class: people who say the right things, back the right causes and appeal to the political instincts of a handful of parliamentarians in a rarefied progressive bubble. This year’s award to Navi Pillay is a case in point. Pillay is best known for chairing the U.N. commission of inquiry that accused Israel of genocide in Gaza. Her selection will inevitably be read as an endorsement of a U.N. culture in which hostility to Israel is not a liability but a badge of moral seriousness. But there is more to Pillay’s record than the commission’s fixation on Israel.” (10/14/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/nobel-peace-prize-has-become-fig-leaf-left-wing-activism
- America Is Making Its Own Problems Worse
Source: The Bulwark
by Mark Hertling“For months, Ukraine has conducted an increasingly effective deep-strike campaign against Russian refineries and energy infrastructure. Russia’s energy industry helps fund Putin’s war, and its refineries supply fuel needed for military operations. Ukrainian strikes have imposed economic and logistical costs on Moscow, forcing Russia to divert resources to protecting facilities far from the front lines while also affecting Putin’s efforts in pursuing his war aims. Yet Washington is now planning to provide Moscow with additional revenue as the invasion approaches its fifth winter. American lawmakers understand the need to starve Russia’s military capabilities, as they have sought to increase economic pressure on Putin through additional sanctions legislation passed last month—yet President Trump is ignoring the very law that he signed.” (10/14/26)
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/america-is-making-its-own-problems-worse
- Livestreaming an Execution Is a Bad Idea
Source: The American Conservative
by Scott Greer“[Pete] Hegseth assumes the American public is the same as it was in the 19th century. Back then, hangings served as community entertainment. But we live in a different age now, and the people don’t want to have the government broadcast such acts of violence to households across the country. The purpose of such a move is ostensibly to sate the public’s appetite for justice. But all it will do is repel them.” (10/14/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/livestreaming-an-execution-is-a-bad-idea/
- Using AI Instead Of Writing Turns Your Brain Into Cheez Whiz
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“Today I saw a post from a popular Twitter account saying, ‘As soon as AI is good enough to write blog posts in my voice as good as I would have written them, i intend to use AI to do so. I know what I want to say, and I could say so much more if I didn’t need to manual labor the words out one by one.’ ‘I kinda hate writing,’ she said further down in the thread. This sucks. I don’t like what we’re becoming. I don’t like how AI is making us so dumb so quickly that the simple act of writing is already being described as ‘manual laboring the words out one by one’, like it’s some superhuman feat of exertion that nobody should be expected to be capable of.” (10/14/26)
- War Is An Instrument of Globalism
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Thorsten Polleit“Unfortunately, the probability rises with every passing day that NATO will wage war with Russia. The proxy war, openly fought since February 24, 2022 between Russia and Ukraine and which has lasted longer than World War I, may soon become an open war between Russia and the West. The ideology of globalism dominates the corridors of European governments, and war is among the means that adherents in Berlin, London, Paris and Brussels are quite willing to use in order to reach their goals.” (10/14/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/war-is-an-instrument-of-globalism
- The Moral Bankruptcy of Livestreaming An Execution
Source: Persuasion
by Kevin Carroll“Since 9/11, U.S. intelligence personnel—from analysts and law enforcement agents to interrogators and case officers—have often endured a grisly task: studying execution videos filmed by al-Qaeda or the Islamic State to positively identify the executioners. I was one such intelligence official. In 2006, I downloaded a photograph of a man killed with a headshot by a naval Special Mission Unit and showed it to every source of mine in Iraq. I needed to determine if the deceased was al-Qaeda’s emir for western al-Anbar, a terrorist who killed a young Marine lieutenant friend of mine.” (10/14/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/the-moral-bankruptcy-of-livestreaming
- How a Flawed Covid Study Tried—and Failed—to Discredit the Amish
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Sharyl Attkisson“In 2021, I reported on my national television program, Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson that the largest Amish community in the US, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, had rejected masking, vaccines, isolation, testing, and all the other CDC recommendations for Covid…and apparently fared none the worse for having done so. … This attention to the Amish approach and its apparent success obviously didn’t please public health officials and industry advocates who were heavily pushing different narratives. They wanted the public to believe that anyone who wasn’t socially distancing, staying home, getting vaccinated, shutting down the works, and taking government-favored prescription drugs were putting themselves and others in grave danger.” (10/14/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/how-a-flawed-covid-study-tried-and-failed-to-discredit-the-amish/
- Electric Vehicle Subsidy U-Turn Leaves Factories and Workers Stranded
Source: The Daily Economy
by Antón Chamberlin“GM’s production cuts and layoffs show why factories, equipment, and workers cannot adjust overnight. Industrial policy can leave lasting economic costs.” (10/14/26)
- Stop Calling It Capitalism When It’s Government Favoritism
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Ninos P Malek“In a free market, businesses must satisfy customers to earn profits. Persistent losses can signal that resources would be better used elsewhere. Rather than rescuing failing firms with taxpayer money, the free-market perspective is to allow the market process to work. As I sometimes jokingly tell my students when explaining this principle, it’s time to say, ‘Bye-bye, die-die!’ to businesses that fail to satisfy consumer needs. (Figuratively speaking, of course.) Some call government favoritism crony capitalism. I dislike that expression because it still associates the problem with capitalism.” [editor’s note: Free markets and capitalism (“a mixed, state-regulated, industrial economy”) are opposites, and “crony capitalism” is a redundancy – TLK] (10/14/26)
https://fee.org/articles/stop-calling-it-capitalism-when-its-government-favoritism/
- Borked or Just Business? SCOTUS Hears Challenge to Sharing of Viewing Records on Free Sites
Source: Jonathan Turley
by Jonathan Turley“Today the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a major case pitting privacy advocates against media companies. By any measure, Salazar v. Paramount Global is a blockbuster case in the making. At issue is the use of viewing habits by companies offering free subscriptions and material to the public. These companies make money by then using that history for tailored marketing programs. Michael Salazar is arguing that a Blockbuster-era law should prevent such sharing of his viewing history, a ruling that would have a massive impact on media and entertainment companies. Salazar involves a law passed 40 years ago after a controversy during the confirmation hearings of Robert Bork, who was nominated by President Ronald Reagan.” (10/14/26)
- The Politics of Solar Energy Are Getting Weird, Mean, and a Little MAGA
Source: Wired
by Noah Shachtman“A mysteriously named political action committee has started running ads reminding voters in Colorado about that time GOP representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado and her date were caught on camera in 2023 getting handsy during a performance of the musical Beetlejuice. That same PAC is producing a spot hitting Anthony Constantino, a Trumpist congressional candidate in upstate New York, because someone used his sticker-printing company to briefly make stickers that read, ‘Kill the Police.’ Attack ads are everywhere in the last month ahead of November’s election. But these spots are a little different. The semi-anonymous PAC that’s funding and making the ads, the Invest in Tomorrow Coalition, is a pro-solar-energy outfit.” (10/14/26)
- Republican Candidates Break with Trump on Tariffs
Source: Independent Institute
by Brady Leonard“All eyes are on the Upper Midwest as both parties battle for control of Congress this November. Democrats need to flip four Senate seats to take control of the upper chamber, and the hotly contested race between former Republican Congressman Mike Rogers and progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan could be the deciding factor. The RealClearPolitics polling average has El-Sayed up by over three points, although many recent polls have the race well within the margin of error. Interestingly, in an attempt to make up ground, Mike Rogers has released a new ad this week that directly breaks with President Trump’s trade policies, explicitly targeting the 50% tariff imposed on Canadian goods.” (10/14/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/10/14/republican-candidates-trump-tariffs/
- A Nobel for Microfoundations
Source: EconLog
by Jon Murphy“Under the Keynesian model, a given increase in income will mechanically generate a given increase in consumption, and thus national output. Readers with a background in economics will recognize this as the Keynesian multiplier. But what Hall showed, building off Friedman, is that such a mechanical relationship is conditional, at best. Whether the change in income was anticipated or unexpected, permanent or temporary, will influence how effective the policy will be.” (10/14/26)
https://www.econlib.org/econlog/a-nobel-for-microfoundations
- The Liberal Gentleman
Source: Law & Liberty
by James Hankins“William F. Buckley may not have fully subscribed to liberal principles, but he lived them.” (10/14/260
- Trump’s “Shield of the Americas” is more fragile than it seems
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Orlando Pérez“President Donald Trump likes to say he is ‘nine for nine’ with the candidates he has backed in Latin America and the Caribbean, and Brazil’s Oct. 25 runoff could make it ten. Senator Flávio Bolsonaro led the first round on Oct. 4, and Brazil under his leadership could seek to join the Shield of the Americas, the security coalition Washington launched in March and now presents as proof that the hemisphere has turned its way. How much support do the coalition’s current members have at home? Less than Trump’s scorecard suggests.” (10/14/26)
- Trump Turning Government Power Into Electoral Liability
Source: Common Dreams
by Greg Pence“On October 11, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to stop using taxpayer funds for television ads featuring the president. Yet two commercials continued airing past the court’s deadline. By the following evening, Justice Department lawyers had apologized, explaining that agency counsel had not seen the order in time. What had been a political accusation had now become a judicial intervention. And now even the government’s response to the order was under scrutiny. For President Donald Trump, the larger danger is electoral. His presidency has turned expansive executive authority into a political calling card. But when that authority appears to serve the president’s campaign interests rather than the public as a whole, it can become a liability. What began as a dispute over advertisements could help turn the November 3 midterms into a contest over where government ends and Trump’s political operation begins.” (10/14/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-gov-power-election
- The Tragic Path of New Keynesianism
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Jonathan Newman“The Keynesian paradigm suffered in the stagflation of the 1970s. Price inflation and unemployment surged simultaneously, which resulted in broad skepticism of the old Keynesian models while loyal Keynesians scrambled to offer explanations. Moreover, it became apparent that the Keynesian consumption function didn’t hold up to empirical scrutiny—disposable income wasn’t as good of a predictor of aggregate consumption as early Keynesian models assumed. This watershed moment in the history of economic thought produced new tributaries and strengthened some existing ones. … The mainstream consensus that has emerged out of this hodgepodge is that Keynes was right about a lot, but his framework needs ‘microfoundations.'” (10/14/26)
- College Still Has a Future, but It’s No Longer the Default Choice
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille“Is a college educations worth the hassle and expense? Amid concerns over soaring tuition costs and campus political intolerance, a growing share of Americans aren’t convinced that higher education is worthwhile. Academics themselves—the honest ones, anyway—acknowledge that they’ve squandered a lot of goodwill over the years. Fortunately, it’s still possible to get an education that justifies the time and money—though the path doesn’t necessarily go through college.” (10/14/26)
https://reason.com/2026/10/14/college-still-has-a-future-but-its-no-longer-the-default-choice/
- NatCon Conference Dials Up Islamophobia (on Israel’s Behalf)
Source: Antiwar.com
by Harrison Berger“As support for Israel crumbles within the United States as a consequence of Israeli behavior, principally its livestreamed genocide in Gaza and ethnic cleansing of the West Bank and Lebanon, Israelis have revived an old strategy for creating ‘a bond between Israel and the rest of the conservative world’: ginning up fear and hatred of Muslims. As Drop Site News previously reported, a study commissioned by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and conducted by Mark Penn’s Stagwell Global concluded that the ‘best tactic to combat’ Israel’s increasingly negative public image ‘is to foment fear of ‘Radical Islam’ and ‘Jihadism,’ which remain high.’ … Speeches at this year’s National Conservatism conference suggest that Israel and its powerful lobby have embraced that tactic, fearmongering over the supposed Muslim hordes plotting to take over Europe and the U.S.” (10/14/26)
- Checks and Balances Will Not Save Us
Source: Liberal Currents
by Steven L Taylor“A Democratically controlled Congress will have some tools to deploy, but not as many as some may hope.” (10/14/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/checks-and-balances-will-not-save-us/
- After the end of history
Source: Asia Times
by Jan Krikke“As the war in Ukraine grinds into its fifth winter, the collapse of recent diplomatic initiatives and Washington’s explicit pivot from arming Kyiv to brokering a territorial freeze have laid bare a stark new reality. In February 2022, Western leaders predicted that sanctions would cripple Russia within months and that a united West would see Ukraine through to victory. More than four years later, Russia’s economy has bent but not broken. The United States has turned from Ukraine’s chief backer into a reluctant broker. Europe is paying for a war it cannot win.” (10/14/26)
- Talafreakout: Should There Be a Mental-Health Requirement for Lawmakers?
Source: American Greatness
by Raw Egg Nationalist“Since the Second World War, the left has done its very best to pathologize being right-wing: not just explicit identification with parties of the right, but also the basic attitudes, beliefs, and stances associated with being of a conservative temperament. The goal of that endeavor is to discourage and even punish right-wing affiliation, to the social and electoral benefit of the left. Theodor Adorno, of the Frankfurt School, landed some heavy early blows with his 1950 book, The Authoritarian Personality. Rooted in Freudian ideas of repression and the Oedipus complex, the book argued for the existence of a specific personality structure that predisposes people to undemocratic and fascist beliefs. The book produced a special tool called the F-Scale (literally, the ‘Fascism Scale’) that measured nine key components of the authoritarian personality.” (10/14/26)
- The Search for a Post-Enlightenment Democracy
Source: Persuasion
by Martin Gurri“That liberal democracy is in a state of terminal decline I take to be beyond dispute. Like Alice in the rabbit hole, those of us who dwell in democratic societies suffer from a nauseating sense of falling without ever landing on solid ground. The usual suspects blamed for this tumble—populism, inequality, the economy—are mere surface symptoms of an internal breakdown. We have arrived at the conclusion of a world-historical cycle. Liberal democracy is the procedural embodiment of Enlightenment ideology—and after two centuries of dominance, that ideology has lost all purchase and stands utterly exhausted. Radical alternatives confront us. Either we reorient our system to post-Enlightenment principles or we risk staggering into the nihilist’s paradise I have called the Endarkenment.” (10/13/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/the-search-for-a-post-enlightenment
- Jon Ossoff Is the Article I Candidate
Source: The UnPopulist
by Robert Tracinski“More candidates should embrace his blend of affordability, anti-racism, and restoring congressional checks on abusive executives.” (10/13/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/jon-ossoff-is-the-article-i-candidate
- The Fight Against Flock
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob“I am not telling you to do anything illegal. I merely note that finding out where the cameras are in your driving range gives you options.” (10/13/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/10/13/the-fight-against-flock/
- Politicians can’t just ‘give the people what they want’
Source: Los Angeles Times
by Jonah Goldberg“In the early Trump era, many prominent pundits were fairly conventional conservatives. When the audience veered towards populism and MAGA, the hosts followed the advice widely attributed to the French 19th century politician, Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin: ‘There go the people, I must follow them, for I am their leader.’ (In fairness, he didn’t say it, critics ascribed it to him.) But the most dangerous realm for this dynamic isn’t political journalism. It’s politics. Politicians often are captured by their true-believing base.” (10/13/26)
- The modernization gap
Source: Niskanen Center
by Larry Bafundo“States often find it easier to secure millions of dollars to replace an aging IT system than a few thousand to understand why it no longer works. They can pay a vendor to build a new website, but struggle to hire the staff who decide what to do next. These problems run deeper than budgeting. The processes that states use to procure and manage technology are largely designed for projects with defined scopes and clear endpoints. That works reasonably well when the work has a clear finish line, but less well for services that need to keep changing after launch, which is the case with most digital services.” (10/13/26)
- ICE Planning $100 Million “Nightmare” Domestic Spy Program
Source: The American Prospect
by Whitney Curry Wimbish“Immigration and Customs Enforcement is fast-tracking a $100 million domestic surveillance program to put 142 intelligence agents in more than two dozen cities and the District of Columbia, in what contracting and surveillance experts said would be a significant expansion of the agency’s ability to reach into private lives. The new program is called the Enforcement and Removal Operations Overwatch and National Security Enforcement, or ERO ONE, described in documents posted last month on federal procurement websites. Under the program, agents would analyze classified and unclassified information to identify ‘trends, patterns, relationships, threats, and intelligence gaps’, and provide ICE with briefings for Enforcement and Removal Operation missions, according to a statement of work published on September 18. A forecasting document published a week earlier said that the solicitation will likely be released on December 10. Intelligence contracting experts said the timeline suggests ICE will award the contract around February.” (10/14/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/10/14/ice-planning-nightmare-domestic-spy-program-ero-one/
- Gambling, government, and …
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton“The State of Wyoming, generally considered to be a conservative, not-quite one-party state, but with a strong streak of minarchist libertarianism, have some odd quirks. One of those has to do with gambling. Take an interesting little ‘fun game’ called ‘shake-a-day’ featured in many saloons, bars, and lounges in the Cowboy State. According to a recent Cowboy State Daily article, Wyoming this game is definitely illegal, since the State ‘clarified’ its laws and regulations. Which are, to put it mildly, confusing.” (10/13/26)
https://thepriceofliberty.org/2026/10/13/gambling-government-and/
- Why I (Kind Of) Support Livestreaming The Nidal Hasan Firing Squad
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“With a public execution, the US regime will join an exclusive club currently comprised of Iran, Afghanistan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, and the Islamic State’s notional ‘caliphate.’ Those aren’t the only regimes with unlimited government. They’re just the only regimes that publicly flaunt their unlimited nature by killing disarmed, helpless prisoners in full view of the serfs they rule. I’m big on government transparency. Not on ‘good government’ grounds, but because transparency makes it easier for people to figure out that there’s no such thing as ‘good’ political government. … The US government killing Hasan is no different in principle than the Gambino crime family’s killing of Thomas DeSimone, sentenced to death for killing ‘made man’ William Bentvena (both killings are portrayed, using other names, in the film Goodfellas).” (10/13/26)
- Protectionism and “Sandwich Economics”
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Thomas Eddlem“The other day, my wife made me a sandwich, and I ate it. Who benefitted from this transaction? I enjoyed the good, but my wife did all the work. I like to think I benefitted from the transaction. It’s in the enjoyment of a good that’s the benefit of the good. The labor in creating the good is necessary, and often troublesome, but it’s not the benefit of the good. But President Donald Trump and defenders of economic protectionism who despise trade deficits think my wife cheated me because she had the privilege of doing all the work. Or, at least that’s the implication protectionists make in their public pronouncements on U.S. trade policy with the world. I now have a sandwich trade deficit with my wife, according to them.” (10/13/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/protectionism-and-sandwich-economics
- Ayn Rand, American Horror Story
Source: Chris’s Substack
by Chris Matthew Sciabarra“Since having published my essay on how ‘The Russian Radical Eludes Ayn Rand’s Critics,’ I have been catching up on several shows. I am just getting to Season 13 of ‘American Horror Story: 13.’ … The writers of [episode 4] are Ned Martel and Charlie Carver. They are not just mocking criminality here; they are satirizing several polarizing, controversial women. Among ‘Mr. Nas’s favorite bad girls’—those ‘taken before they could reach their full potential’—are such luminaries as Eva Braun, Wallis Simpson, Brigitte Badot, Catherine the Great, Mamie Eisenhower, Elena Ceaușescu, Margaret Thatcher, and … you guessed it, Ayn Rand (portrayed by Mary Bacon). Mars describes her as a ‘selfish writer and welfare queen,’ before the ‘frightened’ Rand goes toppling into the fires of Hell.” (10/13/26)
https://chrismatthewsciabarra.substack.com/p/ayn-rand-american-horror-story
- Reason Interview: Mark Cuban
Source: Reason
“Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban discusses breaking up Big Medicine, why he wants to abolish political parties, and how Ayn Rand shaped his views on capitalism.” (10/14/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/10/14/mark-cuban-id-get-rid-of-all-political-parties/
- LPA Two Hour Lunch Hour, episode 15
Source: LP Alliance
“Join us for our anything goes podcast every Wednesday at noon eastern!” (10/14/26)
- Half the Answer, episode 108
Source: Liberal Currents
“Graft the Likes of Which the World Has Never Seen Before.” (10/14/26)
- The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 10/14/26
Source: The Dispatch
“What’s Wrong With Kids These Days? | Interview: Daniel A. Cox.” (10/14/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/remnant/whats-wrong-with-kids-these-days-interview-daniel-a-cox/
- Reasonably Optimistic, 10/14/26
Source: Washington Post
“The fight for fed-up voters in the 2026 midterms.” (10/14/26)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/impromptu/the-fight-for-fedup-voters-in-the-2026-midterms/
- Parallax Views w/ JG Michael, 10/14/26
Source: Parallax Views w/ JG Michael
“Ori Goldberg Tribute Part 2 w/ a Special Introduction by J.G. Michael.” (10/14/26)
- The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 10/14/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Rages as New Press Sec Debut Fiasco Harshly Mocked Even by MAGA.” (10/14/26)
- Nonzero, 10/13/26
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“The Race to Control AI | Robert Wright & Jeremie Harris.” (10/13/26)
- The Editors, episode 917
Source: National Review
“Trump’s Crude Intentions.” (10/13/26)
https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/the-editors/trumps-crude-intentions/
- Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 10/13/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“Trump, Netanyahu Discuss Bombing Iran Before Elections, IDF Destroys 48 Lebanon Towns, and More.” (10/13/26)
- Radio Atlantic, 10/13/26
Source: The Atlantic
by Adam Harris“The Incredible Ambitions, and Rivalry, of Musk and Bezos.” (10/13/26)
https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/2026/10/ra-space-overlords/688899
- Privacy’s Defenders Podcast: No Privacy Without Encryption
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
“The ruling in Bernstein v. Department of Justice held that code is speech and so is protected by the First Amendment – a precedent that underpins the internet as we know it today. This landmark case was led by Cindy Cohn, then a young pro bono lawyer working on behalf of EFF, who went on to become EFF’s legal director and then executive director.” (10/13/26)
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/10/privacys-defenders-podcast-no-privacy-without-encryption
- Politics Politic Politics, 10/13/26
Source: Politics Politic Politics
“What the Hell Is Happening in Kansas? Where the Iran War Goes Next (with Ryan McBeth).” (10/13/26)
https://www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/p/what-the-hell-is-happening-in-kansas
- Larry Johnson on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“Scott interviews Larry Johnson about the status of Washington’s campaign to weaken the current Russian regime.” (10/13/26)
https://scotthorton.org/interviews/10-9-26-larry-johnson-sanctioning-russia-wont-work/
- Cato Weekly Podcast, 10/13/26
Source: Cato Institute
“How Bad Policy Delays Adulthood.” (10/13/26)
https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-weekly-podcast/how-bad-policy-delays-adulthood
- Ron Paul Weekly Report, 10/13/26
Source: Ron Paul
“The Only Way To Fight Government Corruption.” (10/13/26)
- Trump Watch, 10/13/26
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Deadly Blowback Is Another Price of Foreign Interventionism.” (10/13/26)
- Rising, 10/13/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on leftist Twitch streamer Hasan Piker getting grilled for his views in an interview with comedian Ziwe Fumudoh.” (10/13/26)
- Pod Save America, episode 1225
Source: Crooked Media
“One Flu Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” (10/13/26)
https://audioboom.com/posts/8963609-one-flu-over-the-cuckoo-s-nest
- The Good Fight, 10/13/26
Source: Yascha Mounk
“David Deming on the Future of Universities in the Age of AI.” (10/13/26)